Roaches or Rats?

[John Galt]

Quite simply, would you rather live in a domecile that had a roach or a rat/mouse infestation?

Me? I simply cannot stand roaches. If you put me on Fear Factor, I would gladly dangle off of a cliff over spikes but there is no amount of money available that would make me want to eat roaches. Not even tens of millions of dolars, seriously.

[Heisenberg]

I'd prefer the rats tbh. Atleast you can see the fuckers

[BadCoverVersion]

Me? I simply cannot stand roaches. If you put me on Fear Factor, I would gladly dangle off of a cliff over spikes but there is no amount of money available that would make me want to eat roaches. Not even tens of millions of dolars, seriously.

I am genuinely terrified of roaches. I've never actually seen one in real life but they scare the bejesus out of me and if I see one on the television I immediately flinch and cannot bear to look at them. I think it's the thought that they can scutter around without their heads that really gets my back up.

Rats don't bother me in the slightest. Whilst an infestation wouldn't be pleasant, I could certainly deal with it.

Rats as pets are cool as fuck.

[Reigh Kaufman]

Rats as pets are cool as fuck.

I know - and they're such clever animals. People seem to be put off by their tails, too.

I saw a rat the other night - having just moved to a small village surrounded by the countryside, the wildlife is more prevalent - and it just looked at me like, 'Can I help you?'. It did that thing where it used both paws to clean its snout.

Adorable.

Anyway, cockroaches are quite ugly and therefore get my vote. Plus, Joe's Apartment was bogus.

[Tweek]

I'd prefer the rats tbh. Atleast you can see the fuckers

That'd be my choice and reason too.

[BadCoverVersion]

There was a teeny tiny fieldmouse in our back garden about 5 nights ago...and our cat Herman did eat the little chap and Gavin threw a bucket of water over his head to get it from him. I have no idea why he did that but it was pretty damn funny at the time.

Our cat is a total der-brain. He doesn't do much except display his genitals and get physically abused by a baby.

[The Postmaster General]

Growing up in Florida, you'd see roaches. I lived in very bad conditions at one very brief point during my childhood and it was so bad that at night you could hear them scurrying across posters, and rummaging through trash. If you were awakened in your sleep, you eventually learned the grab, squeeze, toss, roll over and go back to sleep technique. One time I had a buddy who was tripping on acid and a Palmetto bug (giant roaches that fly and are hard to squash) flew down from a ceiling and landed on his lip.

Palmetto bugs really aren't as bad though, although they are huge and they can fly - they typically stay outdoors and are more sanitary than the german roaches.

Roaches are easy to curb though. Cats are a good thing to own, and if you 'bomb' your house before moving in, keep a cat, and don't leave food, soda cans everywhere, you shouldn't have a problem. I actually think it's more difficult with them in the northern areas, because they ones up there get further embedded into the walls and nest in order to keep warm. In Florida, you see them because they are all like, "Hey, nice day!" --- People stereotype Florida as being roaches are the norm, but it's mostly just unsanitary conditions, or places that have gone beyond hope and need to be razed.

This is a hard poll for me because I'd really do what I could to prevent either. Both rats and mice are really fast, but a rat is a little bit worse to squish with your shoe and disposing of the traps is a pain. Plus they have teeth and little claws.

I'm going on a limb here and saying if I had to choose, it would be roaches, as I've had experience with both spectrums of dealing with them, whereas rats, not so much. Rats are cute though - seriously.

[Lotis]

Tough call, I wouldn't want either. But unless you're in a horror movie, there will usually be fewer rats than roaches and rats are easy enough to kill.

Back when super rats first appeared (they're resistant to poisons), our next door neighbor had them and they'd eat right out his german shepherds' food bowl. So my mum, not wanting them over at our home, did what they use to do on the farm when she was a girl.

She made cornbread, crumbled it and mixed in dry plaster then set pans of it out. It's dry and caused the rodents to seek out water, which then causes it to harden in their belly.

Problem solved.


Edited to add - Just wanted to add that when I was at college, my freshman dorm had mice. Fortunately a guy who lived in the same building had a snake. He would regularly let people borrow it until he had a tell-tale bulge.

Person got a mice free room and the snake got free eats. Not an option for everyone, some people have as much an aversion to snakes as they do rodents and roaches!

[athf1980]

I can probably deal with both but if it's like nest of spiders different story

[Miss Vicky]

In terms of general gross-out factor, I'll take the rodents over the bugs anyday.

But because I'm a long-time pet rat owner, I'd have to say the roaches, since they are less likely to carry disease that can be passed to my babies.

http://www.angelfire.com/music6/walteregan/forumphotos/natersandchubchub.jpg

[Batgirl1979]

I'd say rats/mice as well, I've also owned a bunch as pets. Miss Vicky adorable two you got there.

I watched one of those true life emergency room shows along time ago that I never forgot cause man did it make me cringe. Some woman was sleeping on a mattress on the floor of an apartment and while she was asleep a cockroach crawled in her ear,couldn't turn around and got stuck. She was freak'in (as anyone would) and saying that she could feel in digging around. They had to shoot some liquid in her ear and use these long tweezer things to get it out. Gah makes me all squirmy even thinking about it.

[Nazgul]

I hate bugs or insects, so I rather deal with mice/rats.

[zombievictim]

I would choose Rats any day of the week. I fucking despise cockroaches. Anything that can survive a nuclear Holocaust is not okay with me. Sneaky bastards. Plus they're just generally very disgusting.

[John Galt]

I can't believe that some of you like rats on here. Clearly, you've never been to NYC. But they are foul, creepy creatures and they make some very horrible sounds.

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

I would choose rats, because some mice can be kinda cute. :)

[the_sneaker]

All you people that get freaked out by roaches would have hated my first apartment. It was nice, at first, but about six months into living there, the complex got a horrible roach infestation. Instead of getting rid of them the right way (fumigating the entire building at once), the fucking managment company decided they would only fumigate the apartment on a case-by-case basis. So, if you had a problem with roaches, they'd come out and fumigate your apartment...which worked great. All the roaches went away...to the next closest apartment. And when the fumigating was done, those little fuckers would just come right back.

I kid you not, when I moved out of there and I was cleaning the place up, I nearly had a heart attack when I looked behind my refridgerator. It was like a scene from the most fucked up horror film you could ever imagine. My friends and I dubbed that place Joe's Apartment afterwards.

[John Galt]

All you people that get freaked out by roaches would have hated my first apartment. It was nice, at first, but about six months into living there, the complex got a horrible roach infestation. Instead of getting rid of them the right way (fumigating the entire building at once), the fucking managment company decided they would only fumigate the apartment on a case-by-case basis. So, if you had a problem with roaches, they'd come out and fumigate your apartment...which worked great. All the roaches went away...to the next closest apartment. And when the fumigating was done, those little fuckers would just come right back.

I kid you not, when I moved out of there and I was cleaning the place up, I nearly had a heart attack when I looked behind my refridgerator. It was like a scene from the most fucked up horror film you could ever imagine. My friends and I dubbed that place Joe's Apartment afterwards.

Or Upson Pratt's apartment circa Creepshow???

I wouldn't live there rent free!

[the_sneaker]

Holy shit! Perfect example, John! I can't believe I never thought of that, but yeah, exactly like that.

[QUENTIN]

Comes down to familiarity probably more than anything else.

As a kid, I had a pet mouse ("QT," heh) and grew up on an island where we had huge flying roaches (don't know if they were palmetto bugs or not but sound the same, we just called them roaches) that were pretty common. When I came to the mainland and realized what little things the rest of the country calls roaches, I didn't see what the big deal was. They look gross, but they're not really harmful and are easy and guilt-free to kill.

Mice are cute and don't really bother me. Rats have the disease factor (which I guess roaches do too, but...I dunno, I don't think of them that way) and claws and teeth. They're much more menacing as far as I'm concerned. I'd also feel very bad having to kill them.

Yeah, I'll definitely take roaches.

[echo_bravo]

I would choose neither and go with Koala bears! I would love it if my apartment was infested with this cute little fuckers.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h200/gigglebot4/animals/hero.jpg

But seriously, if I had to choose I would go with roaches. As revolting as they are, they are way more harmless than rats (big difference between mice and rats BTW).

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc286/xdirtyjobsgirlx/Crispin%20Glover/willard-sized.jpg

[God of War]

I couldn't deal with either.

[Highspeed]

I actually had to live with a roach infestation when I was living in Maryland when I was young, it really was not pleasant. I shit you not the people in the apartment above us worshiped the damn things and thats where the problem came from.

[RustyRazor]

I lived with both in my younger days (grew up in the Bronx) but nowadays, I wouldn't go for it. Roaches are actually worse than rats because of their ability to scamper not just across your floor but up your wall and cling to your ceiling, dive bombing you in the middle of the night and having you wake up screaming bloody murder.



I don't miss that aspect of my youth.

Call the damned Orkin man or it ain't happening.

[Natty]

I'd have to go with roaches, rats smell more and they're bigger--so more of a problem.

[MightyCelestial]

Battered & deep fried,
they're both pretty good.

[Smiert Spionam]

Nothing is worse than bedbugs.

Nothing.

[cloneofkelso]

Can't do either,i am a compulsive neat freak,it would drive me up the wall.

[KcMsterpce]

After living in Hawaii for 10 years and spending a year in Vietnam, I'm very familiar with roaches. I hate those damned things.
In fact, I hate them so much that they helped reduce my fear of spiders.

Rats are also an issue, but I'd rather have those than roaches. Rats carry diseases and are also very unsanitary, though, so I wouldn't welcome those into my house.

The thing with roaches is that they can be anywhere, and they sneak into everywhere. They're hideous and filfthy.
I always kept my place very clean and never left food out. That helps, but it doesn't keep them away forever.

[Sgizzy316]

Both are completely disgusting. If I had to deal with one it'd be roaches. What really scares the bejesus out of me is Spiders. It could be a tiny spider and I am curled up in a ball across the room from it. It's awful

[RustyRazor]

I've heard they were pretty bad. But aren't they microscopic?

I believe so.
I had a variation of 'em.
Couldn't see 'em but they bit the hell out of my legs, really bad.

[The Postmaster General]

No love for scabies?

[Smiert Spionam]

I've heard they were pretty bad. But aren't they microscopic?

They're not microscopic, they're about the same size as a tick, except very thin. That's how they get inside things like couches and beds so easily.

Never had scabies though. Is that like fleas? Fleas are actually almost worse than begbugs in that they are the size of gnats, but can bite you 3 times as much as a bedbug.

Man, this thread is starting to make me squirm. :(